Jamie Roberts aims for December return
Wales centre player Jamie Roberts has set December as the month he will return from a troublesome wrist injury.
Roberts had surgery back in July on the wrist injury that he picked up while playing for the Lions on a tour to South Africa last year. The player has undergone a lot of tests and rehabilitation since
July and now seems set on the road to recovery.
"I'll hopefully be back playing between mid to late December.
I'm counting down the days. I'm at the halfway stage now. It was in a cast for six weeks and had a splint for a month.
Now it's just a case of strengthening my wrist and getting the range of motion back," he said.
Roberts is a quality individual who will fight right back into the Wales team. However, he will miss the important autumn Test matches, which could mean someone takes his
place in the team over the short and possibly long-term. They'll be taking on Australia, South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand in November.
Good and bad
This is good news because Roberts is one of the best centre players in the United Kingdom. His tackling is superb and he can challenge any player in the world for the ball
and be successful.
His passing is innovative and neat. He can offload the ball to wide areas in confined spaces and this does a lot to release the pressure on his team. He can also pass long
if Wales looks to get up the field quickly.
However, there is a distinct danger that Roberts will lose his Wales place for a long time. The autumn Test matches against New Zealand and South Africa are big games and
if another centre plays well, then he'll hold the starting place.
"It's feeling good but it's a frustrating time because the Blues [Cardiff;
his club side] are going well in the Heineken Cup and Wales are about to play the autumn internationals," he added.
Betting advice
Wales will cope without Roberts. There is no doubt that he makes the centre of the team a lot harder to break down. However, the southern hemisphere countries are in good
form and should be treated as favourites over Wales.
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